PMs of Pakistan, Bangladesh to Meet on Sidelines of D-8 Summit in Jakarta
News Desk
Published Date: August 10, 2026
Published On: The Diplomatic Insight
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to hold an important bilateral meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart, Tarique Rahman, on the sidelines of the 12th Summit of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation in Jakarta, Indonesia, scheduled to begin on Monday, August 17.
The three-day summit will begin in the Indonesian capital, and the Sharif–Rahman meeting will mark their first since Tarique Rahman assumed office in Dhaka six months ago.
The meeting thus carries the weight of inaugural summit-level engagement between the two governments at the head-of-state level.
The bilateral is set against a sharply warming diplomatic backdrop. Pakistan–Bangladesh relations in 2026 are no longer defined by the past, but by pragmatic necessity.
Direct shipping and air links between Karachi and Dhaka have resumed, marking the end of a fourteen-year halt. The Jakarta meeting is expected to build on this momentum, with trade expansion, connectivity corridors, and institutional frameworks on the agenda.
Top-tier anonymous diplomatic sources told The News that Prime Minister Sharif will also hold an important meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the summit, and is slated to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well.
The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation is a system of development cooperation among Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkiye.
The idea of cooperation among major Muslim developing nations was mooted by Professor Necmettin Erbakan, then-Prime Minister of Türkiye, at a seminar on “Cooperation in Development” held in Istanbul in October 1996, with the group envisioning a cooperative arc stretching from Southeast Asia to Africa.
The establishment of D-8 was officially announced at the Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Istanbul on 15 June 1997. Azerbaijanjoined as the ninth member in 2025.
Indonesia holds the D-8 chairmanship for the 2026–2027 period under the theme “Navigating Global Shifts: Strengthening Equality, Solidarity and Cooperation for Shared Prosperity.”
Under this chairmanship, Indonesia has outlined five priority agendas: strengthening trade, developing the halal economy, the green and blue economy, connectivity and the digital economy, and organizational reform.
The Jakarta summit was originally scheduled for April 13–15, 2026, but was postponed by the Indonesian government in response to escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, with authorities citing “growing security concerns and regional instability.”
Ambassador Sohail Mahmood from Pakistan formally assumed office as Secretary-General of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation on 1 January 2026, in a ceremony held at the D-8 Secretariat headquarters in Istanbul.
His appointment gives Islamabad a direct institutional stake in the bloc’s proceedings and lends additional weight to Prime Minister Sharif’s participation in Jakarta.